The Prophecies

It's hard to conceive of a television show quite as good as the near-forgotten and buried late Eighties classic "Friday the Thirteenth: The Series," which starred John D. Le May, the beautiful actress/model Robey (Louise Robey), and Chris Wiggins, as a trio of paranormal sleuths that owned, collectively, an antique store that sold Uncle Vendredi's (E.G. Marshall) demonically cursed items. Even the wonkiest plots had the best scenes, the best death scenes, and delivered a wallop of atmosphere and genuine thrills for the discerning genre viewer.

Season 3 begins with a full-on TV movie special, which later aired as a two-part special with significant scenes cut. "The Prophecies" ended John D. Le May's time with the show, replacing him with Mickie's (Robey) love interest beau, the conventionally more handsome (if absurdly named) Johnny Ventura (played by Steve Monarque). It's his swan song, but also his redemption episode, his "born again" moment where he is expiated for the guilt of the death of his younger brother, finally, after reliving the episode at the grave of his brother, at the beginning of the episode.

Jack Marshak, occult polymath, boxer, all-around adventuresome old fart, is in Mer-Mère, France, a place renowned, like the equally famous Lourdes, as a place where the lame walk, the blind see, the sick are healed, etc.

The nuns of Mer-Mère, however, like their historical French counterparts at Loudun, Aix-en-Provence, and Louviers (the first inspiring Ken Russell's horror shock classic The Devils (1971), starring tragic actor the late Oliver Reed, and the last King Diamond's 1990 heavy metal concept album The Eye) have a serious problem.

They are becoming possessed, speaking like roadshow Linda Blairs, and trying to kill the prophetess visionary Sister Adele (Marie-France Lambert). This is due to Astaroth (horror veteran Fritz Weaver) reading from the Second, Third, Fourth Books of Lucifer, "prophecies" invoking the coming of Antichrist. Got it.

Ryan meets his long-lost mother (Jill Frappier) at his little brother's graveside. So we have a deadline of matriarchal descent, with Ryan holding the symbolic bag. Later, in France, he becomes demonically possessed. Death and resurrection being big themes here, Astaroth invades a crypt to read his prophecies over a desiccated pile of dusty bones, and a young girl in a wheelchair, Chris Davis, (Tara Myer) is kidnapped and offered as a "virgin sacrifice." But symbolically, given her legs back, Astaroth exhorts her to praise Lucifer.

The visionary Sister Adele has been dispatched by the demon-possessed Ryan already, and even the casual viewer knows he can no longer continue with the show in his former capacity. Micki and Johnny also fly to France, the whole thing culminating in a finale wherein redemption, through the sacred, virginal (read: Holy Mother) power of young wheelchair-bound Chris, is unleashed, and Ryan, dying, is "born again" as an amalgamation of his childhood self and his dead little brother.

Perhaps we've spoiled something for those who have yet to see this feature-length episode. It was split into a two-parter for syndication, and much was apparently lost for each part. I'm trusting this uninterrupted, full-length version is complete. At the very least, it features a solemn, candlelight procession through the streets of the village, a weirdly mystical and affecting scene unlike anything I've seen on television. It is a surprisingly transcendent moment for a television show most would dismiss as horror genre sensationalist thriller trash.

This film is one of the best television movies I've ever seen. You start watching it, and the minutes disappear quickly. Before you know it, you're halfway through this tele-tale of tribulation and redemption. Performances are adequate to great, and in the case of Le May, he outdoes himself in this, his final Friday.

Friday The 13th - The Series: The Prophecies (1989) S03E1

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